By Sam Cooper
February 3 2008

The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes formula one team have completed the third and final day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya located in western Spain. Race drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton carried out the testing duties, setting 2nd and 3rd fastest lap times- 01:22.422 and 01:22.459.

Topping the timesheets was Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who recorded a fastest lap time just a second shy of Lewis Hamilton’s fastest time of all three test days. In second was McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen, who with team-mate Lewis Hamilton focused on completing longer runs in the MP4-23. Hamilton finished the day in 3rd place just 0.039 seconds separating the two.

In 4th place was BMW’s Robert Kubica, who ran without any major problems, completing 83 laps, setting a fastest time of 01:22.492, just a tenth of a second slower than Webbers fastest time of the day.

In 5th was Renault’s double world champion Fernando Alonso, who’s fans caused McLaren considerable trouble over the course of the weekend, shouting racist comments to Lewis Hamilton. After the events which took place last season.

Finishing the day in 6th, was BMW Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld, who encountered more than his fair share of problems over the course of the day.

“Today we completed an intensive and productive session at the Barcelona circuit," stated McLaren Chief Executive Martin Whitmarsh. "It is always interesting when we test here for the first time with a new car, as you have a comprehensive evaluation of the whole package. We have made some good progress and have gathered some useful intelligence this week, which we will take back to the McLaren Technology Centre and incorporate this into the development of the car in the ten days until the next track test."

"This is a demanding time of year for the team; we ask a lot of every single member as we work to reach the level of competitiveness we want for Australia. The progress we are making is quantifiable and the drive within the team to continue to push remains high," he added.

Times from the third and final day are shown below.